Structuring teacher candidate learning about differentiated instruction through coursework

The Influence of a Methods Course in Physical Education on Preservice Classroom Teachers’ Acquisition of Practical Knowledge

“…In addition, data from PETE students (Romar et al, 2018), which are comparable with this study, indicate that the instruction and teacher categories had about one third of each of the total DMs; while in the present study, the instruction category comprised 57% of the total and the teacher category comprised only 5%. That TE context appears to heavily influence beliefs and knowledge about instruction is not surprising, given that a major focus in the present study was the practical teaching component developed through experience-based content learning, in which modeling effective PE pedagogy had a unique role (Dack, 2018;Grossman et al, 2000). In addition, the course offered various activities, teaching strategies, resources, and assessments, and featured numerous differentiated learning experiences through which PCTs could construct their practical knowledge along with the coursework (Borko & Putnam, 1996;Fairbanks et al, 2010).…”

“…However, in our preservice TE program, all PCTs take a compulsory PE course with a second optional course (five credits) presented in this study. Across the semester in this optional course, 64 hr were allocated to face-to-face learning time, and of these, 56 hr were for practical with a focus on experiential learning (Dack, 2018). Accordingly, PCTs typically value practical orientation more highly than the theoretical elements of their studies (Kari, 2016;Puustinen et al, 2018), and here, the practical hours involved teacher educators modeling effective pedagogy and subsequent critical reflection and construction of their practical knowledge.…”

“…The learning objectives were approached in the practical teaching component of the course through experience-based content learning, while the participants explored different teaching formats in skiing, ball games, swimming, gymnastics, dance, and athletics. In these classes (56 contact hours), modeling effective PE pedagogy had a unique role because course instructors were teaching how to teach (Dack, 2018). When teacher educators model instructional strategies in their teaching, PCTs 'live the curriculum' and can construct their own meanings of teaching PE, increasing the likelihood that they will translate course content into their future teaching (Grossman et al, 2000).…”

Meeting Cognitive Demands of Lesson Planning: Introducing the CODE-PLAN Model to Describe and Analyze Teachers’ Planning Competence

“…Therefore, in creating learning tasks for the particular lesson, teachers relate to further planning decisions (Bromme, 1981;Kang, 2017;Shavelson & Stern, 1981). Intellectually demanding tasks can cover a range of difficulty levels in different dimensions (Kang, 2017), allowing teachers to adapt to students' dispositions and needs in differentiated ways (Dack, 2018). Therefore, learning tasks allow teachers to implement differentiated teaching strategies (Tomlinson, 2015); that is, learning tasks support teachers' proactive anticipation of and response to learners' diversity.…”

Pre–service teachers’ generic and subject-specific lesson-planning skills: On learning adaptive teaching during initial teacher education

“…For example, De Jong and Ferguson-Hessler (1996, 106) use a mechanics problem to illustrate differences in types of knowledge needed to solve that problem, e.g., situational knowledge (knowing about the problem's situation) vs. strategic knowledge (knowing how to organise the information given). Simultaneously, complex learning tasks can cover a range of difficulty levels in different dimensions, allowing an alignment to students' existing dispositions and needs in a differentiated way (Dack 2018). For example, Hsieh, Lin, and Wang (2012, 287) provide an example on differentiating the following task in primary-level mathematics ('A machine uses 2.4 litres of fuel for every 30 hours of operation.…”